A choice
by RiceballXLover
Summary: During a battle, Naruto and Hinata are placed together to protect and fight alongside each other. When Naruto goes to save Sakura, Hinata gets attacked. Will this have an affect on her love for him later on?
1. Taken

**A/N: This is a quick chapter that I had to get out of my head so that I could continue my other story, I know that it is super short but I do have plans for this.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

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The skies overhead were bright and sunny on this day. Excuding all of the makings of what one would consider a beautiful scene, if not for the battle raging below, between two groups of shinobi, it might have been. However, the screams of pain and the smell of blood hung thick in the air, turning this day into much more of a nightmare.

Hinata was not afraid however, because despite the fact that their current opponents were indeed formidable, she had been lucky enough to be paired with the village hero and future hokage. They were put together on a two-man team, to watch each other's backs and stay by each others side's no matter what.

That was a rule that she could certainly follow and there was no doubt in her mind that she could count on him as well.

A scream suddenly pierced the air; Chilling Hinata's blood with its familiarity. Focusing her sight behind herself, she found the source instantly. It was Sakura, her friend and she was close to being attacked. The pink-haired medic froze as a barrage of weapons prepared to rain down upon her.

"Sakura!" Naruto frantically exclaimed; quickly making shadow clones as he took off towards her.

His shadow clones fought and were pretty easily destroyed by the enemies separating Sakura from them. Panic rose in Hinata's chest as the scene before her seemed to play in slow motion. Her heart pounded as she turned to also make her way to them.

However, with sheer perfect timing, Sakura was saved as Lee, the talented taijutsu master leapt powerfully into the air; Grabbing her bridal style he carried her to safety.

Though Naruto went against the shinobi code by leaving Hinata's side at that moment, that thought never crossed her mind. For the always selfless woman's only concern was for the well-being of her comrades. Relief quickly replaced her concern once the blonde reached Sakura and Lee's side and they were out of immediate danger.

Unfortunately, the same could not be said for everyone; Hinata herself had not followed the shinobi principles. She had let her guard down and left herself open for attack while in the midst of a battle, a mistake that usually ended fatally for those who made it.

Realizing this, the young kunoichi prepared to correct that mistake, just a moment too late to counter what was coming.

The whisper that greeted her ear from behind, left a warmth across her neck that made her hairs stand on end.

"A shinobi should never let their guard down."

Gathering chakra in her palm, Hinata swung backwards to connect with the man but her actions were halted immediately.

A powerful source of energy encased her body, causing her muscles to painfully contract all at once and forcing out an anguished scream.

Suddenly, her body became limp as the energy, which she could liken to electrocution, ceased and she collapsed into the arms of her attacker.

Her eyelids became heavy and her vision blurred; She softly called out to Naruto as her consciousness began fading. The last thing being seen by her was Naruto's distressed face as he slowly turned towards her. Then the world around her seemed to spin around before darkness fully invaded.

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**A/N: Naruto :( No, leaving Hinata like that... Sad.**

**Reviews encourage me to continue my stories so please drop one if you liked it at all.**


	2. Angry words

**A/N: I couldn't get this out of my head either so I guess I will write this out until my imagination sparks again for my other story. :) Excuse any spelling errors as I do not have spell check. **

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"No! Damn it. Hinata!" Naruto yelled out in panic as he rushed to the spot where she disappeared, mercilessly attacking anyone who dared to get in his way.

The small battle was now slowly dispersing as enemies were defeated and many others began to retreat, knowing the slim odds they held; Especially now that they had an enraged jinjuriki on their hands. Naruto fell to his knees at the place she was taken from, the spot where he had left her alone...

Suddenly, he smashed his fist into the ground, along with his forearm clear up to his elbow as he made a large crater in the earth and anger welled up from the depth of his very soul.

Sakura rushed to his side at the potential injury, followed closely by Lee. She stopped just short of him, seeing clearly that he was okay; Physically at least but sadness crept into her emerald eyes as she watched Naruto grip tightly into his roots in what she recognized as self hatred.

"Damn it!" He yelled out again, slamming both of his fists down and causing Sakura to nearly jump backwards in both fright and alarm at the powerful surge that pushed at both herself and Lee.

Hinata was someone that Naruto held close to his heart, as one of his dear friends and the kindest person that he had ever met, and she had been taken by the enemy. Taken who knows where and for who knows what reason; What's worse, it was all his fault.

He was supposed to protect her, to stay by her side during this fight and he had left her alone and now she was gone, possibly injured... His mental berating continued on as Lee fought off the few remaining enemies who were stupid enough to come after the fuming man.

Lacking any cool and any rationality, Naruto sprung from his seat and rushed off in a desperate attempt to find his lost comrade. Sakura raced after him, quickly calling to Lee as she took off to try to catch up to her former teammate.

Naruto was fast, extremely fast and his eyes were wild as he ignored the calls of the Pink-haired woman chasing after him and If not for Lee running in front of him and gripping his shoulders firmly, he may have ignored her forever and never stopped his search.

"Naruto." Lee stated, maintaining a solid hold on the blonde as he tried pull from his grasp to continue on. "I know that this is not ideal. However, we do not know in which direction they have gone." Lee attempted to calm his friend as best as he could while waiting for Sakura to catch up and take over. Luckily that did not take long.

"Naruto." Her voice was stern as she reached him, hoping to rein him in while he still maintained a small level of control over his emotions.

"We have to go back to the village. We need to report this to Kakashi-sensei."

Naruto stepped away from Lee now, completely bewildered by her words and by the thought of abandoning a comrade, of abandoning Hinata for that matter.

"No!" Naruto threw his hand out, displaying that he was rejecting her words. "We can't just leave her. We don't even know what's happening to her."

"We don't know where to begin looking. If we go off in just any direction, it could be the wrong way." Sakura countered, trying to reason with the somewhat unreasonable man under the circumstances.

"It would be more successful if we got Kiba, Shino, or any good tracking ninja. We need the Hokage's advice."

Naruto yelled again, blasting through the ears of his comrades as he gripped his hair once more, frustration and worry taking over as he realized that she was right. They had no real starting point.

No further words were exchanged between them. None of them had much of a want to do so as they were faced with the circumstances of a kidnapped friend, instead they all silently made their way to the village, tension hanging heavy in the air as anger gripped at their hearts.

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"Alright." Kakashi sat in front of the three ninja as they delivered the news of Hinata having been taken by the enemies.

"First, we have to make Hiashi Hyuga aware of this. Then I will work on setting up a retrieval team"

Sakura, Naruto, and Lee nodded grimly, their eyes gleaming with sadness of having to break this terrible news to Hinata's father.

A knock came from the door, the sound recoiling off the walls and leaving behind an echo that seemed to further darken the mood, however possible that may be. The man who they has just been speaking of, entered the room upon Kakashi's approval.

Each of their heads turned, followed by the parting of their feet as Naruto, Sakura, and Lee separated in order to allow Hiashi to walk up between them and to stand in front of the Hokage's desk.

"You summoned me Lord Sixth?" He questioned offering a respectful bow to Kakashi who motioned for him to not do so as he replied.

"Yes." Kakashi's voice was calm, as it typically was, though it was not enough to even slightly comfort Naruto the way it usually did.

"It's about Hinata." Naruto caught the clenching of the Hyuga head's fists but other than that he made no obvious signs of concern.

"It seems that she has been taken by the enemy. There is no reason to believe that she is hurt, however, we do not know which direction that they left in. With that in mind, I am currently organizing a retrieval unit specialized in tracking."

"It's my fault." Naruto cut in, hanging his head sadly at the pain of actually hearing the words spoken aloud. "I was supposed to stay by her side, but, I let my emotions cloud my judgement and... I screwed up."

The air around them was heavy, completely thick with discomfort as the time ticked by excruciatingly slow while they awaited her father's reaction.

"The secrets of our Kekkei Genkai are in danger." It was not the reaction that Naruto had been expecting and that served to throw fuel onto his rage which had been slowly dying. A lot of fuel at that.

"Hinata could be hurt and all you care about is your fucking clan secret?" He yelled out at the man, disgusted by his lack of worry for his own daughter, his own flesh and blood.

Dismissing Naruto's words, Hiashi turned to exit the room while Naruto continued on his rant, Ignoring the protests of Sakura.

"You're a fucking savage!"

"That's enough Naruto." Kakashi stated warningly, growing impatient with him now, though he had agreed earlier, it was getting to be too much now.

"No. How can you not care what happens to her? You are completely heartless!"

The next actions shocked Naruto, as well as the other three present in the room as Hiashi turned suddenly to face Naruto, who now clearly saw wetness shining in the older man's pupil-less eyes.

"It's your fault that she was taken! She always seems to get hurt over concern for you. When... if we are able to bring my daughter back, I forbid any interaction between you two."

Naruto's heart jolted at the sudden words, shock clearly present on his features.

Hiashi now directed his attention to Kakashi.

"And what's more, I do not want him on this search mission." He turned his face away from their stares now.

"My family did our best to protect you during the war..." Hiashi's toned lightened a bit, at least when compared to the anger dripping in it before. "She is my daughter... and she is precious to me." With those last words, he left the office. Leaving a severely wounded Naruto in his wake.

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**A/N: I wonder if Hiashi will stick with those words or if it was just a heat of the moment thing. :/ Maybe Sakura should be blamed a bit considering she's the one who didn't move! And... I wonder what's going on in Hinata's neck of the woods.**

**Reviews encourage me :) Thank you!**


	3. Appearance

**A/N: Thank you all so much for the reviews! They made me smile :) I hope you enjoy this chapter! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

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By the clouds accumulating overhead and the thick moisture hanging in the air, the search team knew that this retrieval mission would only become more difficult. As if the fact that the man, who captured their beloved friend, disappeared into thin air wasn't enough of a disadvantage, now they had to be cursed with rain that was certain to fall and cause scent tracking to become even more strenuous.

"I just picked up a faint trace of her scent!" Kiba Inuzuka, the man with the keenest nose in all of Konoha, announced from his perch atop his furry companion.

"And she is injured. I can smell her blood."

"Can you tell if it's serious?" Sakura asked, picking up her pace in order to keep up with Kiba and Akamaru's sudden increase in speed.

"No.." His eyebrows drew together in concern and fear over his former teammate's well-being. "It's too faint to discern for sure." Though he had a pretty stong feeling of the truth, he tried his best to think positively.

"Damn, I wish Shino wasn't out on a mission. We could really use him right about now."

"Many of our comrades are out, still dealing with the after effects of the war. This is the best we have for now." Ko stated, activating his Byakugan to scan the areas around them; desperately hoping to find some clue, some chakra signature, anything to that may help, but it was to no avail.

"We will find Lady Hinata. I will give my life to ensure that, if I have to."

The rain that then began to pour down on their heads, seemed to match their dampening moods; If not to signify a bad omen as the trail became harder to follow.

"Damn! I'm losing it, we need to hurry!"

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"I'm picking up chakra networks of shinobi!" Ko called out suddenly, alerting everyone to possible danger laying ahead while signaling for the other Byakugan weilders to activate their kekkei genkei.

"Yeah, I smell them."

Their hopes for the other shinobi, to not be hostile, were immediately put down as kunai were launched at them, inciting a battle that would only add more time to their search; Time that they weren't sure that they had and time that they weren't willing to spare.

Quickly landing a powerful punch into the ground, Sakura crushed it. Causing it to split apart toward their enemies and knock them off balance.

"Out of our way!" She yelled out, feeling confident that they had been taken care of, or at least well enough to give herself and her squad enough time to continue on their path to the last known point of Hinata's scent.

And it may have been enough, if it had only been those shinobi targetting them, unfortunately, that didn't seem to be the case...

"Wh-what is this chakra?!" The Hyuga members all became instantly uneasy, which caught Sakura and Kiba's attention. If rain was not falling upon them right now, Sakura was sure that they would be visibly sweating.

There was no time to even prepare for an assault as a powerful energy abruptly pushed them backwards; Literally sending them all rolling across the ground tens of feet away to end up laying in bruised heaps.

As suddenly as the intense chakra came, it disappeared; However, the damage it left behind would not be easily handled. The Konoha team had no time to recover or even think before enemy shinobi surrounded them, each preparing to use their ninjutsu on the disabled ninja.

"Rasengan!"

In the same, 'in the nick of time' manner as expected, Naruto and his shadow clones blasted through many of the enemy, effectively saving his comrades from the immediate danger.

"Naruto?" Everyone's voices seemed to sync together as they registered what had happened.

"You didn't really think I would sit this out did you?"

"You idiot!"

Naruto was cut off, mid thumbs up, by a punch to the head from the pink-haired kunoichi. "You weren't supposed to come!"

"This is not the time for this! There's ano..." Ko's words were cut short as another powerful blast wave washed over them. Sending Naruto and Sakura in one direction, while the others were sent flying into the base of the mountain behind them.

The force of the impact left their bodies shocked and minds in a daze; Leaving them ill-prepared to react as the top of the mountain began crumbling down onto them.

"Protective eight-trigrams.."

Kiba, Ko, and the other Hyuga clan members braced themselves for what they were sure would be their last moments, but...

it never came. Instead, upon the clearing of all of the unsettled dirt, they were faced with a sight that they certainly had not expected and one that instantly rendered them unable to even form words.

For the woman they had been searching for, whom they all expected to need saving, in fact, had just saved them and was now standing before them; Albeit battered, bloodied, and barely able to catch her breath but... Alive.

"A-are... you... all... a-alright?" Hinata spoke between haggard breaths as she glanced at them over her shoulder.

...

...

"H-Hinata?" Naruto was the first to break through the silence of utter bewilderment, catching her attention followed by her eyes as he set Sakura down. He was momentarily fixed to his spot as he stared back into her eyes.

A soft smile broke across her face as relief washed over her features.

"It seems... I.. was a-able... to make it. just... in time." The lasts words were barely above a whisper and probably wouldn't have been discernable if Naruto hadn't been staring at her and if the others weren't close enough and quiet enough to hear.

Almost as if her will alone, to protect her friends, had kept her moving, her features suddenly relaxed along with her posture as consciouness began to slip from her grasp and she began to collapse; Much to the horror of Naruto who snapped out of his daze to run towards her as fast as his legs could carry him.

However, it was Kiba who caught Hinata. Gently craddling her head, he jumped from the pile of rocks that surrounded them and towards Sakura before softly and very slowly laying Hinata down, completely weary of his hand placements; Not being sure of where the blood was coming from, considering that it covered most of her face and clothing.

Naruto's heart hurt tremendously at the sight of such a battered Hinata. It jolted in his chest in such a way he had never felt before.

Falling to his knees at her side he reached out for her hand, but he was just a little too late.

Before he could grab it, before he could hold it to his chest and apologize to her, Sakura pushed him away, along with anyone else standing too close as she began to assess Hinata's condition.

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**A/N: Yay! Hinata. I'm glad you're okay, but I really hope you aren't seriously injured... and where were you? Great job saving your comrades! Naruto! Start getting to her faster silly.**

**Reviews encourage me to continue so drop one if you enjoyed it. Also, I don't have spell check so feel free to bring any errors to my attenion and I will fix them.**


	4. Panic

**A/N: Hey guys! Sorry that is has been so long. I was going through a big move and was also traveling a lot for the holidays. Seeing as it has been awhile since I worked on this story, I hope that you think it was written well and that I can get into the swing of things again. Anyways, here goes nothing.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

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How is she here? Why is she covered in blood? Where was she this whole time? Who took her?

All of these thoughts and more raced through Naruto's muddled mind as he knelt on the ground near Hinata; Praying that the green chakra emitting from Sakura's hands were enough to help the unconscious woman.

He would hug her tightly, hold her close and apologize profusely hundreds of times….

or so he had thought while they were looking for her. However now, seeing her like this, he was afraid. Afraid to touch her; Completely and utterly terrified that anything he did would cause more harm than good.

Suddenly Naruto was ripped out of his internal world to fully latch on to the words that the pink-haired medical kunoichi spoke. One word, in particular, made his mind swirl and his heart race. It was a word that Naruto would never want to hear directed towards anyone, but especially not towards one of his dearest friends and closest comrades.

"Torture."

That vile, despicable word played itself over and over again in his mind, tormenting him and making his spine rattle with the devastating possibilities of what that entailed.

"The wounds aren't deep enough to cause any permanent damage or scarring. They are all shallow, most likely their intent was only to cause pain by hitting the nerve endings without severing them." Sakura explained, offering detail to everyone concerning what she had meant by, "Torture."

"So she will be okay?" Ko asked, putting everyone's own concern into an audible sentence and causing them all to stiffen and anxiously await her response; A response that no one would find particularly soothing.

"Physically, yes. Psychologically….. I don't know." Sakura's voice and eyes softened as she pulled her hands from Hinata's form and placed them gently on her own knees.

"Plus, she has an injury to her head and head injuries are…. well, to put it bluntly; They are unpredictable."

A feeling of uneasiness coursed through Naruto's veins at that moment, weighing heavily down into the pit of his stomach. A clenching sensation in his chest followed, causing him to grip at the front of his jacket tightly and pull on it in a vain attempt to find relief from the sudden pressure building in his lungs.

Sakura's voice reached his ears, barely audible over the sound of his heart beat pounding in his head, but his mind couldn't seem to piece together that fact that what was being said was his own name. He actually couldn't seem to piece together any form of thought.

The only thing at his attention now was the fact that he could not catch his breath, each one coming out in short, uneven gasps.

Falling forward, the blonde leaned on his free hand and watched as it blurred in his vision.

Suddenly, Naruto saw a small, delicate hand reach out to his, followed by a gentle warmth as fingers lightly grazed over his knuckles, serving to instantly pull him from the edge of blacking out.

Quickly looking up in search of her face, he was stunned to see that she was awake. Hinata was awake and she was looking at him, out of everyone surrounding her; Her eyes, heavily-lidded and full of concern, were on him. The moment that her soft, alabaster orbs met with his fearful, cerulean ones, his panic dissipated.

And Almost as if she awoke simply to help him, the moment that he caught his breath, Hinata's eyes closed once more as she fell back into an involuntary sleep.

'Hinata,' It was the only thing that went through his head as he stared down at her face, her bruised, slightly bloodied, but somehow still beautiful face...

A few more moments passed in silence before Naruto removed his jacket and handed it to Sakura.

"Here, put this on her." He said, unable to stand seeing the brunette's own dirty, torn, and crimson stained coat any longer. Sakura wiped away excess blood and removed Hinata's battered jacket to replace it with the large orange one in her hands.

Without wasting anymore time than necessary, the moment that Sakura gave the okay, Kiba lifted Hinata and sat her across his lap, nestling her head under his chin as he sat atop Akamaru. The froup took off right away, not wanting to risk further attack, especially from that same powerful force.

Falling in stride just slightly ahead of the Inuzuka and his canine, Naruto, peering out of the corners of his eyes, stared at Hinata's soft, beautiful features, desperately trying to grasp an understanding on the sudden and overwhelming feeling that he had while seeing her head cradled against the chest of her teammate.

He must've seen Kiba bandage Hinata, or help her walk while she was injured, a thousand times but at this moment Naruto had to battle down the urge to take her into his own arms and cradle her against HIS chest. Oddly enough to him, it was proving to be a tough battle.

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"That little bitch!" From the safety of his hideout a young, brunette man rubbed at his aching muscles which were still recovering from the skirmish that had taken place earlier.

"You should know better to underestimate any shinobi, no matter how inexperience they may appear." an older man responded, scolding the brunette.

"Yeah, yeah. I got that point."

"Because of your mistake it will now take longer for the jutsu to build up enough power to have the desired effect."

"Don't you think that it was a bad idea to use a Byakugan wielder for this?"

"By the time that they will be able to notice, it will be too late."

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**A/N: Yaayy, I forgot how fun it is to write this :) and it was so much faster and easier this time because I have a laptop now! As always, feel free to point out any mistakes and I will fix them.**

**Drop a review if you liked it. Since this was a short chapter without much action, I plan to have the next chapter within the week. :)**


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